The present invention broadly relates to a new and improved apparatus for collating differentiated or different types of printed products.
Generally speaking, the inventive apparatus for collating differentiated printed products is provided with a plurality of hoppers or bins substantially uniformly spaced from each other and transported along a path of conveyance. These hoppers or bins are loadable from above and each hopper or bin is bounded or defined by means of two walls or faces which are positioned substantially transverse to the direction of conveyance or circulation of the hoppers or bins. The printed products are individually infed into the hoppers or bins by means of at least one individual conveyor or product infeed conveyor which is provided with mutually spaced controllable clamps or grippers. These mutually spaced controllable clamps or grippers are positioned with substantially the same spacing as the hoppers or bins and circulate substantially synchronously together with and vertically above the hoppers or bins. These clamps or grippers of the at least one individual conveyor or infeed conveyor transport the printed products in a suspended manner at least in the region of a product transfer or delivery region of the individual conveyor or infeed conveyor.
An apparatus of this general type is known, for example, from the German Patent Publication No. 1,260,487, published Feb. 8, 1968. With this apparatus, printed products of a first type are inserted into hoppers or bins circulating in a vertical plane at the transition from the lower return run of the path of conveyance of the hoppers or bins by means of a feeder. An individual conveyor equipped with controllable clamps or grippers is positioned in the region of the then subsequent horizontally extending run of the path of conveyance of the hoppers or bins and serves as a further conveyor which inserts printed products of a second or further type. These printed products are then transported in a suspended manner in the product transfer or delivery region of the individual conveyor. This product transfer or delivery region of the individual conveyor moves synchronously with the circulating or revolving hoppers or bins as well as parallel to and with a substantial distance above the path of conveyance of the bins or hoppers. The printed product released from the grippers or clamps then freefalls into the predeterminate hopper or bin.
The design of the aforedescribed apparatus possesses the following substantial disadvantages. Since the printed products brought forward by the individual conveyors equipped with clamps or grippers should fall freely into the predeterminate hoppers or bins, their loading or infeed opening must be wide enough in order to achieve even an approximately satisfactory reliability of insertion of the printed products. A wide or large size loading or infeed opening of the hoppers or bins results, however, in a comparatively small quantity or number of hoppers or bins with any given length of the path of conveyance of the hoppers or bins. If one desires, however, to immediately collate the quantity or number of printed products per unit of time coming from a printing press with a small number of hoppers or bins, the speed of conveyance or circulation of the hoppers or bins as well as of the individual conveyors must be increased. This then again results in the printed products which are suspended in the product transfer or delivery region of the individual conveyor beginning to flutter uncontrollably and upon their release are hardly able to enter the loading or infeed opening of the predeterminate hopper or bin. The result of this is that the take-up or handling capacity of the known device does not in any way approximate the production capacity of a modern printing press.
Similar statements may be made about the known apparatuses as described in the Swiss Pat. No. 594,553, which is substantially identical in content with the German Patent Publication No. 2,702,738, or with the Swiss Pat. No. 594,554. So-called feeders or infeeders are provided for loading or feeding the hoppers or bins of these known apparatuses. These feeders or infeeders can be designed, for example, according to the Swiss Pat. No. 374,968. The product transfer or delivery end of this stationarily located feeder or infeeder substantially comprises two conveyor bands between whose runs which confront one another and which travel in the same direction a conveying gap or opening is formed for each printed product. If the printed product leaves this conveying gap or opening it is propelled or delivered into the hopper or bin which is just passing by. This design creates several different problems.
One of these problems consists in the synchronization of the different feeders or infeeders with the circulation or revolving movement or conveyance motion of the hoppers or bins such that a printed product leaving the conveying gap or opening also always enters a hopper or bin and that the subsequent printed product arrives at the subsequent hopper or bin. Therefore, in these known apparatuses, one of the walls of the hopper walls arranged in a V-shaped configuration of each of the hoppers or bins can be spread away from and pivoted toward the other wall. By means of an appropriate control of the pivotable wall of the hopper or bin, it is possible that the loading or infeed opening of the hopper or bin is enlarged or widened at the loading point or location and thus the reliability of insertion or product-charging by the feeder or infeeder is increased. On the other hand, this design of the hoppers or bins likewise results in the fact that the mutual spacing of the hoppers or bins may not be less than a predetermined amount. This leads to a comparatively small number or quantity of such hoppers or bins which can be accommodated per unit length of the path of conveyance of the hoppers or bins. If, however, a predetermined take-up or handling capacity of printed products of the known apparatuses is required, this could only be achieved by increasing the speed of circulation or revolving motion of the hoppers or bins.
Finally, the performance capacity or efficiency of these known devices is also limited by the fact that the feeder or infeeder can first then deposit a further printed product into the passing hopper or bin if the preceding printed product is completely and totally accepted in the preceding hopper or bin.